Asian Games 2 Syrian refugees make historic Asian Games debut in taekwondo
Talah Alhassan Alhinide of the Asian Refugee Team competes in the women’s -49 kg round of 16 taekwondo match during the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games against China’s Ma Jingyue at the Toyohashi Gymnasium in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan, Friday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
From a refugee camp in Jordan to the taekwondo mats on the Asian Games, two Syrian athletes made history this month as the first competitors to represent the Asian Refugee Team in one of Asia’s largest sporting stages.
Talah Alhassan Alhinide, 18, and Mahmoud Aljasem Almohammad, 24, competed at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, the first time the Olympic Council of Asia has fielded a refugee delegation at its continental event.
Alhinide competed in the women’s under-49-kilogram sparring division while Almohammad entered the men’s under-80-kilogram category. Both were eliminated in the round of 16, but their participation carried a significance beyond the scoreboard.
Talah Alhassan Alhinide of the Asian Refugee Team competes in the women’s -49 kg round of 16 taekwondo match against China’s Ma Jingyue during the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Toyohashi Gymnasium in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan, Friday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Alhinide lost 2-0 in rounds to China’s Ma Jingyue, while Almohammad fell 2-0 in rounds with South Korea’s Kang Jae-gwon.
“Taekwondo became much more than a sport. It became my window to hope,” Alhinide said in a released statement by World Taekwondo (WT). “It gave me the opportunity to dream again and to believe that being a refugee does not define or limit my future.”
For Almohammad, taekwondo offered a path forward after he arrived in Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp in 2016. He was among the early participants in a camp program supported by the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF), a WT-affiliated organization.
“For the first time, I felt that I could achieve something and that my future could be brighter than I had imagined,” the athlete said.
Mahmoud Aljasem Almohammad of the Asian Refugee Team competes in Men’s -80 kg round of 16 taekwondo match against South Korea’s Jae-gwon during the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Toyohashi Gymnasium in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan, Friday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
The two athletes discovered taekwondo after fleeing Syria’s civil war with their families and settling in the Azraq camp. Training through the humanitarian program gradually opened a path to elite competition.
Alhinide said she initially entered the camp’s training sessions with little confidence, convinced that other athletes were stronger and that the sport might not be for her. Repeated training gradually changed that, she said, replacing fear with determination.
“I’m really happy to have competed at this tournament, and I’m very proud of myself,” she said after the match. “It was a new and good experience.”
Flag bearers Talah Alhassan Alhinde, center with a waving hand, and Mahmoud Aljasem Almohammad, to the right of her, of the OCA Refugee Team enter the stadium with team members during the opening ceremony for the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, Sept. 19. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk